Suction cleaner belt detacher



Nov. 4, 1952 c. FRERE ETAL 2,616,117

SUCTION CLEANER BELT DETACHER Filed July '7, 1949 2 SHEETSSHEET 1 Fig.3I

Fig.4 C a I Inventors: g 15 Clarence T-r-eT-e,

l Frank T. Grothouse,

J4 b g/M 9 I0 I I Their- Attorne g.

Nov. 4, 1952 c. FRERE ETAL 2,616,117

' SUCTION CLEANER BELT DETACHER Filed July '7, 1949 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2Inventors:

Clarence Frere," Frank T,- Gr-othouse,

v Their Attorney.

Patented Nov. 4, 19 52 SUCTION CLEANER BELT DETACHER.

Clarence Frere, Bridgeport, Conn., and Frank'T. Grothouse, South Euclid,Ohio, assignors to General Electric Company, :a corporation of New YorkApplication July '7, 1949, Ser'ialNo. 103,396

3Claims. 1

This invention relates to suction cleaners of the floor type, and moreparticularly to a device for disconnecting a flexible driving beltextending between the motor shaft and the rotary floor brush.

Suction floor cleaners conventionally employ a rotary brush mountedadjacent the mouth of the cleaner nozzle. This rotating brush serves toloosen dirt so that the inrushing air through the nozzle mouth willcarry dirt particles into an air filter bag. It is also common practiceto contruct a floor cleaner so that various attachments for auxiliarycleaning operations may be used. When the attachments are thus beingemployed, it is customary to disconnect the rotary brush, since with thesuction cleaner remaining in a given position, if the brush wererotating, the surface on which the cleaner was restin would soon bebadly worn.

It is, therefore, a primary object of our invention to provide amechanical device to disconnect the belt so that the rotary brush willnot operate when the machine is being used with attachments.

A further object of our invention is to arrange a belt detacherco-operable with the attachment suction hose so that the belt detachermay be placed in position, the belt removed, and the suction hoseinstalled; and upon completing use of the attachments, the belt isreadily replaced and its proper position is insured.

A further object of our invention is to greatly simplify removal of theflexible driving belt from the motor or driving shaft by a deviceoperable externally of the nozzle and having no dustcatching parts inthe suction passages.

Still another object of our invention is to provide a compact beltdetacher which is economical to manufacture.

In accomplishment of the foregoing objectives, a feature of ourinvention consists of an improved device which may be attached to a wallforming the cleaner nozzle. This device includes a pivoted arm carryinga belt remover tool arranged to swing into or out of axial engagementwith the motor shaft. The belt remover tool is rotatable to roll thebelt onto the tool from the motor shaft, after which the arm pivots toclear the opening for attachment of the suction hose. By reversing thisprocedure, the belt may again be placed in operative position on themotor shaft.

Our invention will be better understood from the following descriptiontaken in connection with the accompanying drawings, and its scope willbe pointed out with particularity in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a side elevation in section of anexemplary device according to our invention; Fig. 2 is a front elevationof a portion of a suction cleaner nozzle with the belt detacher inplace; Fig. 3 is a portion of our improved device in one of itsoperative'pos'itions; Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 with the partsin another operative position; Fig. 5 is a front elevation similar toFig. 2 with the belt detacher in a different position; Fig. 6 is a sideelevation, partially in section, with the belt removed and a suctionhose installed; Fig. '7 is a side elevation in section of a modifiedform of our invention; and Fig. 8 is a front elevation of this modifiedform.

Fig. 1 illustrates a nozzle portion of a floor-type suction cleaner. Thenozzle is formed by an outer wall 1, an inner wall 2, and a top wall 3.The nozzle suction chamber is separated from a motor fan chamber 5 by awall 4. Wall 4 is centrally apertured at 6 with a portion of slightlylarger diameter, as at I, to provide a seat against which an attachmentsuction hose may be received. A motor (not shown) has a shaft 8extending outwardly through aperture 6 and into. the interior of thenozzle. Located adjacent a mouth 9 of the nozzle is a rotary brushcomprising a spindle ill with bristles, such as H and 12, mounted on thespindle and extending radially outward. As is clearly shown by Fig. 1,when spindle 10 is rotated the brush bristles contact the surface onwhich the nozzle rests. To rotate spindle IE3, a flexible belt 13, suchas for example a rubber belt, extends over motor shaft 8 and aroundspindle 10. Thus, as the motor is operated to drive a fan within the fanchamber 5, motor shaft 8 rotates driving spindle 10 through flexiblebelt IS. A suitable bumper pad 14 extends around the lower part of wallI.

The upper sloping portion of front wall 'I of the nozzle includes anopening into the suction chamber. This opening normally is sealed off bya front cover plate (not shown) for usual floor cleaning. This coverplate may be removed when it is desired to employ the attachments toprovide "access for the --attachment suction Ihose 15 shown by Fig. 6.In accordance with our invention, a supporting member such as thebeltremover plate It may be attached to the cleaner suction nozzle inplace of the usual face plate. Cover It includes pins .11 and 18receivable in slots l9 and 20. in the nozzle wall. I, to maintain plate1.6. in position.

3 Centrally located along the lower edge of plate I6 is a bearing post2|. A pivoted arm 22 is rotatably connected to bearing post 2| by ascrew-threaded member 23. A washer 24 may be included under the head ofscrew 23 to facilitate rotation of arm 22 with respect to plate I6. Theouter end of arm 22 includes a bearing member 25 for rotatably carryingthe belt detacher shaft 26. Shaft 26 is both rotatable with respect toarm 22 and also slidable axially. Knob 21 is secured to the outer end ofshaft 23 for manual manipulation. The inner end of shaft 26 has securedthereto a ferrule 23. The inside diameter of ferrule 28 is slightlylarger than the diameter of the end portion of shaft 8, so that whenshaft 26 is moved axially inward, ferrule 28 fits over the end of motorshaft 8 and the ferrule end frictionally engages the flexible belt.

The operation of this belt remover is apparent by a reference to Figs. 3aid 4. By grasping knob 2'I,-.shaft 26 may be moved axially inward untilferrule 28 fits over the end of motor shaft 3. Then, by rotating knob 21in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed from the outer end of knob27, belt I3 and motor shaft 8 are also rotated by frictional engagementof the ferrule with the belt, causing belt I 3 to climb and roll ontoferrule 28, as shown by Fig. 3. With belt I3 riding on ferrule 28, knob21 may be pulled outwardly, thus removing belt I3 from the motor shaft,as shown byFig. 4. Since shaft 26 is carried by the pivoted arm 22, whenferrule 23 is clear of motor shaft 8, arm 22 may be pivoted to theposition shown by Fig. This operation clears the aperture into thenozzle to permit suction hose I5 to be mounted in position.

As shown by Fig. 5, the aperture through plate I6 has a generallycircular configuration to clear the aperture into the nozzle. Hose !5extends through this aperture and is supported by the nozzle wall.Asshown by Fig. 6, a locking tongue 29 on hose I5 is engaged inside ofnozzle wall I of the suction chamber. One end of spring tongue 29 isheld in position by a rivet 30, and a button 3| provides an externalmeans for forcing tongue 29 inwardly so that the hose may be inserted inposition or removed. At its innermost end, hose I5 seats in the annulargroove 7 and it is this connection that provides the air seal betweensuction hose I5 and the fan chamber 5. As shown by Figs. 2 and 5, thegenerally circular aperture through plate I6 and the opening in thefront wall of the nozzle are both interrupted to create a recess intowhich pivoted arm 22 carrying shaft 28 may move. This constructionserves to clear completely the opening for suction hose I5 withoutremoval of the belt detacher. This feature is important, since belt I3makes a. right angle turn in extending from spindle I8 to motor shaft 8,and upon belt replacement there is a likelihood of this turn being madein the reverse direction, resulting in reverse rotation of the spindleand throwing of the belt. However, with the present construction,because the belt remains on the belt detacher and the belt detacherisafiixed to the nozzle, when use of attachments is. completed and hoseI5 is removed, the belt is readily remounted on motor shaft 8 in itsproper operative position without a possibility of reverse connection.

In Figs. '7 and 8, we have shown a modified form of our invention. Thedetails of the suction cleaner nozzle construction are identical withthe nozzle construction-described above in connection with Figs. 1through 6. Therefore, for'con-1 venience, we have employed the samenumbers for referring to the component parts of the suction cleanernozzle. Likewise, belt removing shaft 26, manually controlled knob 21,and ferrule 28 are identical with the above-described construction.However, in this modified form, in lieu of employing a large plate forsupporting the belt detacher on the suction nozzle, we employ a smallerplate in the form of a bracket engageable with wall I of the nozzle.This bracket 32 includes a pair of hooked portions 33 and 34 which clampto wall I of the suction cleaner nozzle. The outer end of bracket 32carries a depending flange 34 upon which is attached a pivoted arm 35 bymeans of a rivet or other suitable fastening device 38. As shown by Fig.8, flange 34 has an arcuate groove 31 and the lower end of pivoted arm33 has a tongue 33 projecting through this arcuate slot. Movement ofpivoted arm 35 is thus limited. The upper end of pivoted arm 35 carriesa bearing support 38 and this serves as a bearing for the rotatable andaxially movable shaft 26. Operation of this modified form is exactly thesame as for the previously described embodiment. The aperture throughWall I of the suction nozzle is appropriately shaped to receive asuction hose for use with attachments to the cleaner. Likewise, the edgeid on bracket flange 34 is provided with an arcuate shape to clear thishose-receiving aperture.

Our improved belt detacher results in a convenient tool fordisconnecting the driving belt from the motor shaft when it is desiredto employ the suction cleaner attachments. It is apparent that thisdetacher may be readily affixed to the suction nozzle, and it not onlyserves to detach the belt by a simple mechanical movement, but it alsoprovides a convenient means for remount ing the belt on the motor shaft.A standard at tachment suction hose may be employed, without any specialbelt lifting device Within the hose to impede air flow. This device isreadily removable from the nozzle for normal floor cleaning,

- and hence there are no dust-catching parts exposed to dirt-ladenincoming air. Because of the simplicity of this device, it may bereadily manufactured at a low cost. Therefore, this belt detacher may beconveniently included as one of the items comprising the cleanerattachments. A further advantage in the use of this device is in itsfacility for replacing the belt on the motor shaft upon conclusion ofthe use of the attachments. While the attachments are in use, the beltdetacher remains attached to the cleaner in instant readiness forreplacement of the belt.

While the present invention has been described by reference toparticular embodiments thereof, it will be understood that numerousmodifications may be made by those skilled in the art without actuallydeparting from the invention. We, therefore, aim in the appended claimsto cover all such equivalent variations as come within the true spiritand scope of the foregoing disclosure.

What we claim as new and desire Letters Patent of the United States i sSecure by 1. In a suction cleaner floor nozzle having a front openingtherein for insertion of a suction hose, 2. motor shaft within thenozzle extending toward said opening, a rotary brush in the nozzle on anaxis at right angles to said motor shaft axis, and a belt connecting anddriving said brush from said motor shaft, a belt remover comprising asupporting plate having means detachably engaged with said nozzle tosupport said plate adjacent said opening, an arm pivotally carried bysaid plate for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the axis of saidshaft toward and away from a, position opposite the end of said shaft, amember carried by said arm, slidable and rotatable with respect to saidarm, one end of said member being slidably engageable over the end ofsaid motor shaft when said arm is opposite said shaft, rotation of saidmember and said shaft together in one direction when engaged resultingin said belt riding onto said member, whereby said member may be slidaway from the shaft and said arm may be pivoted to carry the belt awayfrom said shaft and opening and permit a suction hose to be inserted insaid opening.

2. In a suction cleaner floor nozzle having an attachment hose aperturetherein, a motor shaft within the nozzle extending toward said aperture,a rotary brush positioned adjacent the mouth of said nozzle on an axisperpendicular to the axis of the motor shaft, and a flexible beltdriving the rotary brush from said motor shaft, a belt detachercomprising a supporting plate detachably engaged on the nozzle adjacentsaid aperture, an arm pivotally mounted on said plate for movementtoward and away from a position opposite the end of said shaft, and abelt remover shaft carried by said arm and rotatable and axially movablewith respect to said arm, said belt remover shaft including an operatingknob on its outer end and a ferrule on its inner end slidable axiallyover the end of the motor shaft when said arm is opposite said motorshaft to frictionally engage the belt, whereby rotation of said shaftsin one direction causes the belt to roll onto said ferrule whereuponsaid ferrule may be withdrawn from said motor shaft and said pivoted armmay be rotated to clear the aperture for reception of the attachmenthose.

3. In a suction cleaner floor nozzle having an attachment hose aperturetherein, a rotary brush positioned within the mouth of the nozzle, amotor shaft within the nozzle extending axially toward the aperture withits axis in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the brush,and a flexible belt driving the brush from the motor shaft, a beltdetacher comprising supporting means detachably engaged with the nozzle,an arm pivotally carried by said supporting means and movable in a planeperpendicular to the motor shaft axis toward and away from a positionopposite the end of said motor shaft, and a belt removing shaft havingan axis parallel to the motor shaft axis rotatably carried by said armand movable along its axis with respect to said arm, said belt removingshaft including an operating knob on its outer end and means on theopposite end of said belt removing shaft engageable with the belt whensaid arm is in its position opposite the motor shaft and said beltremoving shaft is moved axially toward said motor shaft, whereby saidbelt may be rolled onto said-belt removing shaft upon rotation of saidbelt moving shaft in a direction reverse from normal driving directionand said pivoted arm may then be moved in a plane normal to the motorshaft axis to carry said belt clear of said aperture after said beltremoving shaft has been moved axially away from said motor shaft.

CLARENCE FRERE. FRANK T. GROTHOUSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,182,595 Stecker May 9, 1916FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 620,771 Great Britain Mar. 30, 1949

